Monday, April 10, 2017

FAVA BEAN DIP

There are a number of delicious Greek dishes that I had tasted during my visit to this beautiful country. I have been trying out some of them and this is a fava bean dip made from pureed fava beans ( Greek yellow split peas ) They have to be soaked and cooked for a long time or easier way is to pressure cook them. If you cannot get these you may try with the canned fava. I have used the canned fava beans today to make this dip. Unlike other Mediterranean dips tahini is not added to this one. This dip was served with a herbed pita and tasted so delicious.

This is how the dried fava beans look like :

Image - courtesy Google

Ingredients:

Cooked or canned fava beans ... 1 cup

Garlic paste ....................... 1/2 tsp (add more if you like)

Fresh oregano .............. 1 tbsp (chopped)

Lemon juice ...................... 1 tbsps or more as per your liking

Extra virgin olive oil ......... 6 tbsps

Salt ..................... to taste

Paprika ............ a pinch or two

Method:

1. Take all the ingredients into the container of the mixer and blend together to a smooth paste.

2. Remove them into a serving bowl and top it up with some garnishings of you desire or serve plain.

3. To make the herbed pita pat the dough on a baking tray and using your finger tips make

depressions on the surface. Sprinkle herbs and drizzle olive oil over it. Bake until done.

Note: If you are making with the dried fava beans soak 1/2 cup beans for a couple of hours. Cook them in a saucepan adding 2 cups of water and a little salt. Simmer until done. Alternately you can pressure-cook them.